I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the manufacture of a new product, artificial fish skin, to be used as the substitute for prepared whole natural bait fish or bait fish parts, or decorations attached to fishing lures. The product also finds utility as an item of fashion where the particular properties of the product are desired.
II. Prior Art
The prior art exhibits a large number of structures for fishing lures that are employed to simulate natural bait. The vast majority of these products are prepared to be rigid structures such as plugs, etc. U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,073 describes a flexible fishing lure. The essential feature of this product resides in the shape of the portion the inventor describes as the membrane portion and in the presence of the ridges in the periphery of the membrane portion of the structure. Other fishing lures that are more typical of the prior art include U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,144 to Gurka which describes a two-piece oval-shaped solid lure with an embossed insert therein. U.S. Pat. No. 3,631,625 to Castner describes another solid lure made of a transparent material that has spaced polarizing films embedded therein. U.S. Pat. No. 3,528,189 to Lilley, Jr., discloses a solid fishing lure that includes a photograph in the interior of the oval-shaped structure.